But now we all must truly ask ourselves: do we deserve this gift of Liberty? Do we take it seriously? Even, are we worthy? If so, what are we doing to preserve the Liberty that those soldiers bequeathed to us? Particularly today when we have discovered that our government has been surveilling us and monitoring our emails and telephone calls for years, where in some states criminal defendants, mentally fragile people and parents are not provided with skilled attorneys to represent them in often life-changing judicial proceedings? Yes, this is a complicated world, but the hallmark of Liberty must be to protect each one of us from the wrongful and arbitrary intrusions of government. President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said that if the Liberty of any one of us is reduced, it is reduced for us all. But he was the one who ordered thousands of Japanese Americans to be placed in internment camps. So no, do not solely look to those in government for the protection of Liberty, because fundamentally it is the responsibility of “We the People!” And if we fail, those lives lost on the beaches of Normandy will have seriously reduced meaning.
Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)
2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President,
along with Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President
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Being dependent upon government is a cruel hoax: good for politicians and bureaucrats, but over the long (and often even short) run, terrible for the recipients. As a stark example, consider our Native Americans. We can start with an observation by Henry Ford who, although certainly not my favorite person due to his social views, said something that all people should have emblazoned upon their thought processes: “Anyone who thinks people can prosper by relying on the government should talk to the American Indian.” Fact: Native Americans have the highest poverty rate of any minority group in our country. That comes as a result of having been controlled by the federal government since the early 1800s. Their lands are held in “trust” for them by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or BIA (which most Native Americans refer to as “Bossing Indians Around), which has a budget of $3 billion per year. The Bureau of Indian Education spends $850 million of that money per year on educating 42,000 students, which comes out to more than $20,000 per student per year – while the national average is about $12,500 per student. So money is not the problem. And, by the way, those two government agencies have about 9,000 employees, which pencils out to one bureaucrat for every 111 Native Americans still on a reservation.
As has been said several times in this series, Liberty does not at all mean that “anything goes.” Instead, Liberty implies responsibility which, in turn, means that we must have laws which are enforceable and enforced. So what is the purpose of the law? Of course there are many, but one of the main purposes can be answered with one word: foreseeability. Obviously every action cannot be litigated, but with foreseeability, we all will generally know that if we act, or don’t act, in a particular fashion what the likely legal result will be. 
I simply had to share this with my “2 Paragraphs” recipients, because it demonstrates what Liberty is doing in Nepal. Please read the enclosed explanation from my friend Ron Kohut, who is instrumental in bringing this clinic into being, and take a look at the YouTube video. You will once again be impressed and gratified what the private sector can do and is doing! Big time thanks to each one involved, and if you would like to learn more, feel free to contact Ron.
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